System to inform about trademarks similar to provided input

ABSTRACT

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate to trademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, various embodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods for informing requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input. Some embodiments of the present invention provide for a proactive system in which users are notified of similar trademarks before using specific term(s) and users proceed after understanding which trademarks actually exist and what areas those trademarks actually entail, and possibly being notified of newly applied trademarks and modified trademarks at later times that are similar to the specific term(s) being used.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/830,655 filed Mar. 14, 2013 entitled “System to Inform AboutTrademarks Similar to Provided Input”, which is a continuation of U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/310,557 filed on Dec. 2, 2011 entitled“System to Inform About Trademarks Similar to Provided Input,” whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61/419,128filed on Dec. 2, 2010 entitled “System to Inform about TrademarksSimilar to Provided Input”, all of which are hereby incorporated byreference for all purposes in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate totrademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, variousembodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods forinforming requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input.

BACKGROUND

A trademark is a distinctive sign or indicator used by businesses,individuals, organizations and other legal entities to identify anddistinguish their goods and services from those from other entities. Atrademark may be a name, word, phrase, logo, symbol, design, image, or acombination of these elements. Business, individuals, organizations andother legally-recognized entities may register a trademark withappropriate government or international bodies. The owner of aregistered trademark may take legal action against any unauthorized useof their trademark.

Rights to a trademark are commonly, but not always limited by legaljurisdictions. For example, the US Patent & Trademark Office acceptsregistrations for and manages records of pending and registered UStrademarks, while the UK Intellectual Property Office acceptsregistrations for and manages records of pending and registered UKtrademarks. There exist organizations and groupings that allow formulti-jurisdictional registration of marks. One such system is theMadrid System. Another such system is the Community Trade Mark system inthe European Union.

Business, individuals, organizations and other legally-recognizedentities need not necessarily register their distinctive name, word,phrase, logo, symbol, design, image or other identifying elements with agovernment or international entity such as the USPTO or the MadridSystem. This is because there exists, in certain countries such asGermany, provisions that provide limited common law rights forunregistered marks of goods and services that occupy a highlysignificant position in the marketplace.

Internet domain names are one area where infringement of trademarks mayoccur. The Internet has been a prominent feature of our lives since thelatter part of the 20th century. Examples of services, resources andfunctions that get delivered over the Internet include the World WideWeb, with the delivery of requested information in HTML (HypertextMarkup Language) and other similar formats that include but is mostcertainly not limited to PHP, JSP, Flash, DHTML, ASP, ASPX and more.This information is often delivered over a web browser such as AppleSafari and Mozilla Firefox, and is commonly accessed and identified byprimary identifiers known as internet domain names. These internetdomain names provide easily recognizable and memorizable names tonumerically-addressed Internet resources. Examples of domain namesinclude apple.com, whitehouse.gov, google.co.uk, and mit.edu.

Internet domain names are used as an addressing method for accessing aplethora of other services, such as accessing and transferring files viathe File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Internet domain names are also, amongother purposes, used to identify the senders and recipients ofelectronic mail (e-mail) and to manage routes for the actualtransmission of these e-mail messages. It is clear that domain namesplay an extremely critical function in the operation of the Internet.Other uses of domain names as an addressing method include SFTP (SecureFile Transfer Protocol), RTSP (Real Time Streaming Protocol), and more.

Domain names have multiple components. In the example of apple.com,‘apple’ is the second-level domain (SLD), while ‘com’ is the top-leveldomain (TLD), otherwise known as a suffix. Examples of TLDs are .com,.net, .org, .info, .biz, .mobi, and .name. Other TLDs includecountry-code variants (otherwise known as ccTLDs) such as .de, .co.uk,and .com.cn. TLDs are managed by registries (also known as registryoperators). For example, ‘.com’ is managed and run by Verisign, Inc.,while ‘.org’ is managed and run by the Public Interest Registry and‘.uk’ is managed and run by Nominet UK. These registries maintain domainname registration information. In most cases, registry operatorscontract with designated (or accredited) domain name registrars (forexample, eNom, Inc., Network Solutions, LLC, etc.) to provide domainname registration services to the public (end users) with minimallimitations. Registrars may then offer registration of domain namesthrough reseller affiliates. End-users may register any domain namethrough registrars or their resellers. A domain name may generally beregistered for up to a maximum period of 10 years.

End-users are generally allowed to register any domain name they want,so long as the domain name is not presently registered. In most cases,the registration process is a simple one. The end-user goes to thewebsite of a domain name registrar (or its reseller), types in thedomain name that he/she is interested in registering, and the registrar(or its reseller) performs a check for the availability of that domainname with the registry. If the domain name is available, the end-usermay then register that domain name with a payment. At this time, theregistrar ensures that the domain name is added to the registry. Whenthe registration process is complete, the end-user who is now the ownerof a domain name is known as a ‘registrant’.

The registrant (domain name owner) may elect to create subdomains(third-level domains, or even more). For example, Google, Inc., a searchengine provider with a primary domain name of google.com, may elect tocreate a subdomain name ‘news’, resulting in a public-facing address‘news.google.com’. Subdomains allow for an extremely large number ofpotential addresses to be created on the internet.

New TLDs are constantly being introduced (mostly global TLDs, or gTLDs),formerly dormant/unused ccTLDs are being reintroduced or relaunched (anexample being .co), and new countries result in the creation ofcompletely new ccTLDs. For example, 7 new TLDs were introduced in 2001and 2002. These were .biz, .info, .name, .pro, .aero, .coop, and.museum. In 2003, six more new TLDs (.asia, .cat, .jobs, .mobi, .tel and.travel) were introduced. These new TLDs result in more opportunitiesfor unique SLDs to be registered (for example, telephone.com may not beavailable, but telephone.mobi may be available for registration). MoregTLDs are being introduced in coming years as ICANN (the InternetCorporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) loosens limitations andallows for applications from entities who want to run their own gTLD.

Additionally, new name character sets (aside from the former ASCIIlimitations) have been introduced, allowing for the registration ofInternationalized Domain Names in native characters from languages suchas Arabic, Chinese, Russian and more.

Another area where end-users on the Internet may register names of theirown is on services (social networking sites, blog sites, instantmessaging, and more) such as Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogspot,Linkedin, and AOL Instant Messenger. Many of these privately runservices provide users with opportunities to secure a username thatbecomes part of a public-facing web address. For example, MarkZuckerberg, who is an instance of a Facebook (social network site) user,may register ‘facebook.com/zuck’, where the ‘zuck’ component of the webaddress was selected by the end user. In another case, Nouriel Roubini,who is an instance of a Blogspot (weblog/web journal service) user, mayregister ‘nourielroubini.blogspot.com’, where the ‘nourielroubini’component of the web address was selected by the end user. In yetanother example, Starbucks Corporation, which is a corporation that hasa Twitter (service for high-speed status update transmission andsharing) profile/presence, may register http://twitter.com/starbucks,where the ‘starbucks’ component of the web address was selected by theend user. The list of examples mentioned in this paragraph is by nomeans exhaustive. There are many more examples of public-facingusernames hosted by privately-run services. In a final example for thissection, Justin Bieber, who is an instance of an AOL Instant Messenger(AIM) user, may register ‘justinbieber’ as his AIM screen name.

In summary, there is a multitude of opportunities on the Internet wherean individual or entity may create a new web address (e.g., domainnames, subdomains, networking sites, and blog services), or a uniqueidentifier (e.g., instant messaging services) associated with the use ofweb-based services. The number of such opportunities is expanding as newTLDs are launched and as dormant TLDs get revived or relaunched. Thisnumber of opportunities is also increased by the ever-growing number ofsocial networks, blog services, and more.

SUMMARY

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate totrademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, variousembodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods forinforming requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input (e.g.,a domain name, an e-mail address, instant messaging user name, or anadvertisement). For example, some embodiments include receiving, from arequester, a request to perform a trademark search for a provided input.The requester, for example, can be an individual, an organization, aservice provided, etc. One or more databases can be searched fortrademarks related to the provided input. In some embodiments, forexample, the provided input can be directly used for searching thedatabases. In other cases, the provided input can be processed or parsedinto phrases for searching the databases. Based on the returnedtrademarks, a relevance score for each trademark can be determined. Therelevance score can be based on a variety of inputs and factors such asstatus of a trademark, filing date, first use date, litigation history,comparison of potential classes with classes assigned to the trademarks,and others. Then, a notification can be generated based at least in parton the relevance score.

Some embodiments of the notification system include a communicationsmodule, a parsing module, a searching module, a notification module, agraphical user interface module, a verification module, and/or othermodules or components. The communications module can be configure toreceive a request to perform a trademark search for a provided input.The parsing module can be configured to parse or process the providedinput into phrases for searching. The searching module can be configuredto receive the phrases from the parsing module and search (e.g., usingexact matches, phonetic matches, and/or natural language matches) one ormore database for trademarks related to the phrases.

The notification module can be configured to receive the trademarksrelated to the phrases and generate a notification. In some cases, thenotification module can determine a relevance of the trademarks relatedto the phrases before generating the notification, wherein the relevanceof the trademark is based on a status, a filing date, a first use date,a registration date, keyword matches between the description of thetrademark and the context of use of the keyword within the providedinput, a trademark jurisdiction, or an involvement of the trademarkowner. The graphical user interface module can be configured to generateone or more user interface screens configured to display thenotification to a recipient and receive a verification from the userthat the user has reviewed the notification.

While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of thepresent invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art fromthe following detailed description, which shows and describesillustrative embodiments of the invention. As will be realized, theinvention is capable of modifications in various aspects, all withoutdeparting from the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, thedrawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative innature and not restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention will be described and explainedthrough the use of the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment in which someembodiments of the present invention may be utilized;

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram with exemplary components of an informingengine in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations for performinga trademark search in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations for generatinga notification in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a set of exemplary operations for aservice provider to allow a registration in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a computer system with which someembodiments of the present invention may be utilized.

The drawings have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, thedimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be expanded orreduced to help improve the understanding of the embodiments of thepresent invention. Similarly, some components and/or operations may beseparated into different blocks or combined into a single block for thepurposes of discussion of some of the embodiments of the presentinvention. Moreover, while the invention is amenable to variousmodifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments have beenshown by way of example in the drawings and are described in detailbelow. The intention, however, is not to limit the invention to theparticular embodiments described. On the contrary, the invention isintended to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternativesfalling within the scope of the invention as defined by the appendedclaims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Various embodiments of the present invention generally relate totrademark searching and notification systems. More specifically, variousembodiments of the present invention relate to systems and methods forinforming requesters about trademarks similar to a provided input.Current means of enforcement of trademark rights by trademark ownersinvolve filing lawsuits, using arbitration, and sending cease and desistletters, and more. Use of such methods in today's information-rich worldis often ham-fisted and akin to attempting to smash a fly with a hammer.There exists a great deal of information asymmetry between those who canunwittingly or deliberately misuse a trademark or a term similar to thetrademark, and what the actual owners of trademarks actually want theworld to know.

Instead of a complaints-based system where a platform operator has torespond to complaints from trademark owners, some embodiments of thepresent invention provide for a proactive system in which users arenotified of similar trademarks before using specific term(s) and usersproceed after understanding which trademarks actually exist and whatareas those trademarks actually entail, and possibly being notified ofnewly applied trademarks and modified trademarks at later times that aresimilar to the specific term(s) being used. This notification or alertfrom a service provider and a recipient of services may optionally be acomponent of the Terms of Service of the service provider.

Various embodiments of the systems and methods described herein providefor a fast, simple way to search/request/check whether the manner inwhich they are about to use a given term, phrase, or identificationstring is not likely to be infringing on an existing trademark. Thissearch/request/check, and the subsequent verifiability that such a stephad taken place, reduces the likelihood that willful infringement of atrademark will take place, thereby eliminating unnecessary distress andcosts to all parties.

Among other things, some embodiments of the proposed systems and methodsenable individuals and organizations to obtain/receive a list oftrademarks similar to a given keyword or phrase, and to achieve averifiable record of them doing so, which may serve various purposesincluding (i) demonstrating that adequate due diligence had beenperformed prior to the usage of a specific keyword or phrase in anycontext, (ii) altering their behavior of usage of the term(s) inquestion to avoid conflicts with existing classes of similar trademarks,(iii) performing precautionary checks/scans on a regular basis to ensurethat their usage of a keyword or phrase is not in conflict with a newtrademark, (iv) responsibly providing alerts and notifications as aprovider of a platform or medium that allows for potential misuse of atrademark or trademark-similar term, (v) detecting attempts to registera trademark where the user of the keyword/phrase has already had defacto rights to the term by virtue of continued use of the term, ormore.

In addition, various embodiments provide for the initiation of a meansof data compilation including a list, indexed database, XML database,relational database, object database, or other data storage method, inpreparation for subsequent storage of trademark information and data.Trademark data includes, but is not limited, date(s), status, classes,serial number/identifiers, image(s), description(s), jurisdiction(s),and other identifying and/or classifying information such as legalprecedents—past lawsuits/disputes over the use of that keyword. Thecompilation of trademark data can be updated regularly against theirrespective sources. In some embodiments, the sources are accesseddirectly for the searching. Various embodiments also provide for variousinterfaces, mechanisms, and system by which entities can submit theirown marks (which may be unregistered, non-default) withpossible/optional verification of credentials for injection into datacompilation. The compilation of submitted data may be regularly againsttheir respective sources.

Upon receiving an analysis request, various embodiments process rawinput in preparation for comparison search. The comparison searches canbe verified through the use of unique identifier(s) created for eachsearch/request/check. In some embodiments, an identifier can include atimestamp, search id, user id, search type, etc. In some cases, uniqueidentifiers can be assigned to the requester and the recipient. Logging(recording/storage) in system of verifiable (time stamp, etc)record/message of the properties and results of executedsearch/request/check, storing date and time of search, search party ID,search query, results transmitted, result count, and all otherinformation as previously outlined. Some embodiments also log averifiable record/message that said results were actually displayed ortransmitted to a recipient. The system can make records available toregistrar, registrant, possibly in the form of control panel. Back uprecord of properties of search/request/check, the results, andsubsequent transmission, to alternate system (e.g., geographicallydiverse offsite location).

Output of search/request/check can be a list, which can take the form ofa table with these possible columns: the relevant trademark detected, %degree of relevance and/or the % degree of similarity, date(s), status,classes, serial number/identifiers, image(s), description(s),jurisdiction(s), and other identifying and/or classifying informationsuch as past lawsuits/disputes over the use of that keyword. Other formsof data output include a digital or printable report, a database, awebpage with links, an e-mail message, an audio message, and more.

If a specific search/request/check is a regular, repeating event,optionally check for previously displayed results to ensure that onlynew or changed results are emphasized. This may take the form of datecomparisons, whole-list comparisons, annotations, or other forms ofdifferentiating when a particular result has changed since the last timeit appeared in a previous search/request/check.

The techniques introduced here can be embodied as special-purposehardware (e.g., circuitry), or as programmable circuitry appropriatelyprogrammed with software and/or firmware, or as a combination ofspecial-purpose and programmable circuitry. Hence, embodiments mayinclude a machine-readable medium having stored thereon instructionswhich may be used to program a computer (or other electronic devices) toperform a process. The machine-readable medium may include, but is notlimited to, floppy diskettes, optical disks, compact disc read-onlymemories (CD-ROMs), and magneto-optical disks, ROMs, random accessmemories (RAMs), erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs),electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs),magnetic or optical cards, flash memory, or other type ofmedia/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions.

TERMINOLOGY

Brief definitions of terms, abbreviations, and phrases used throughoutthis application are given below.

The terms “connected” or “coupled” and related terms are used in anoperational sense and are not necessarily limited to a direct physicalconnection or coupling. Thus, for example, two devices may be coupleddirectly, or via one or more intermediary media or devices. As anotherexample, devices may be coupled in such a way that information can bepassed there between, while not sharing any physical connection with oneanother. Based on the disclosure provided herein, one of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate a variety of ways in which connection orcoupling exists in accordance with the aforementioned definition.

The phrases “in some embodiments,” “according to various embodiments,”“in the embodiments shown,” “in one embodiment,” “in other embodiments,”and the like generally mean the particular feature, structure, orcharacteristic following the phrase is included in at least oneembodiment of the present invention, and may be included in more thanone embodiment of the present invention. In addition, such phrases donot necessarily refer to the same embodiments or to differentembodiments.

If the specification states a component or feature “may”, “can”,“could”, or “might” be included or have a characteristic, thatparticular component or feature is not required to be included or havethe characteristic.

The term “module” refers broadly to software, hardware, or firmware (orany combination thereof) components. Modules are typically functionalcomponents that can generate useful data or other output using specifiedinput(s). A module may or may not be self-contained. An applicationprogram (also called an “application”) may include one or more modules,or a module can include one or more application programs.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an environment 100 in which someembodiments of the present invention may be utilized. As illustrated inFIG. 1 a requester, such as, a domain name registrar 110, a socialnetworking site 120, an e-mail service 130, or other service provider140, can send a request for a trademark analysis of an identificationstring or other provided inputs (e.g., such as graphics or logos whichcan be analyzed with a graphical analysis). In accordance with someembodiments, the request can be sent through network 150 to notificationsystem 160.

Network 150 generally refers to a group of interconnected devicescapable of exchanging information. A network may be as few as severalpersonal computers on a Local Area Network (LAN) or as large as theInternet, a worldwide network of computers. In accordance with someembodiments, network 150 includes any network capable of transmittinginformation from one entity to another. In some cases, network 150 maybe comprised of multiple networks, even multiple heterogeneous networks,such as one or more border networks, voice networks, broadband networks,financial networks, service provider networks, Internet Service Provider(ISP) networks, and/or Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTNs),interconnected via gateways operable to facilitate communicationsbetween and among the various networks.

Once the notification request has been received, notification system 160can search various trademark databases 170 and/or self-reportedtrademark databases 180. A list of related trademarks can be returned tothe requester and/or to third-party 190 (e.g., one of the trademarkowners). The requester for a search/request/check may be a differentparty from a recipient of the notification. For example, a domain nameregistrar 110 (the requester) may request for a search before apotential registrant (the recipient) registers a domain name. In asecond example, the registrar (the requester) initiates the search eachmonth and have the results delivered to the registrant (the recipient).In both cases, the requester and the recipient are two separate parties.In a third example, the registrant of a domain name may individuallyelect to initiate a search/request/check for trademarks similar to agiven keyword without involving any other party. In this case, therequester and the recipient of results is the same party.

Trademarks databases 170 could include external databases from aroundthe world. For example, the US Patent & Trademark Office acceptsregistrations for and manages records of pending and registered UStrademarks, while the UK Intellectual Property Office acceptsregistrations for and manages records of pending and registered UKtrademarks. There exist organizations and groupings that allow formulti-jurisdictional registration of marks. One such system is theMadrid System. Another such system is the Community Trade Mark system inthe European Union. Trademark data from the largest and well-knowntrademark offices, systems and jurisdictions can be included in thesystem as a base layer of data, while retaining the option of addingmore data at any time.

Some trademark owners may submit their trademarks (e.g., because somejurisdictions/countries restrict access to lists of trademarks, or weresimply not included in the system or unregistered marks). In accordancewith various embodiments, the submission may occur via a web form,e-mail, telephone, or other method of communication to the management ofthis system, or to some other repository of such trademark data that maythen be fed to the management of this system. This information can bestored in self reported trademark databases 180.

In some embodiments, notification system 160 may alternatively relyentirely on self-reported trademarks, where only trademarks that arereported to the management of the system will be included and returnedin results. In any case of a self-reported trademark being added to thesystem, the self-reported trademark can optionally be verified by somemeans by the management of the search/check system (for instance, amanual search of the respective country/jurisdiction to ensure accuracyof the data provided by the owner of the self-reported trademark).

Self-interested trademark owners may also elect to highlight or annotatetheir trademark(s) if their trademark(s) appear in the results that arereturned to the requester of the search/check. This request/election maybe made via a web form, e-mail, telephone, or other method ofcommunication to the management of this system. This election may alsobe included as part of other systems. For example, if a trademark ownerdecides to subscribe to an ancillary trademark-monitoring service thatmonitors specific trademark(s), or if trademark(s) are added to atrademark docketing system, the trademark(s) can optionally orautomatically (as part of the example monitoring service or docketingsystem) be included for highlighting or annotating when the results(notification) are returned from a check request. This serves thepurpose of notifying the result recipient that the trademark owner paysparticular attention to the enforcement of their trademark.

The system's databases can accommodate additional inputs for long-termarchival and storage in some embodiments. The system can receive aconfirmation of acknowledgement, receipt and understanding directly fromthe recipient of the results. The system can also subsequently receive,from a designated party (e.g., a requester such as a domain nameregistrar) information about whether a term was eventually used (e.g.,if a domain name SLD that was the subject of a search/request/check waseventually registered).

As described above, each of the service providers illustrated in FIG. 1,may request the trademark analysis and notification. Each one, however,has slightly different problems to motivate the request. For example,consider domain name registrar 110. In this case, the number ofopportunities where an individual or entity may create a custom webaddress or online unique identifier has led to inadvertent andintentional instances of trademark infringement. Other examples aretyposquatters and cybersquatters. A typosquatter may register‘trupadvisor.com’ in place of the popular TripAdvisor (which has its website at tripadvisor.com). A cybersquatter may register‘existingtrademark.com’ where ‘existingtrademark’ is a hypotheticalregistered trademark whose owner has not registered the equivalentdomain name.

In these two cases, the unlicensed user (taking the form of atyposquatter or a cybersquatter) may (a) derive advertising revenue fromthese domain names by placing advertisements on them, (b) pressure therightful trademark owner into purchasing the domain name for aprofitable amount of consideration (e.g., money or benefits), or (c) usethe domain name for other purposes, infringing or otherwise. It mayalternatively be the case that the domain name registrant hasinadvertently/unwittingly registered a domain name that matches or issimilar to an existing registered trademark, and is being unwittinglyregarded by the owner of the registered trademark as a trademarkinfringer.

The extremely large number of registered domain names and registeredtrademarks, with more being registered each day, poses problems for atleast three parties: 1) the domain name owners, 2) the trademark owners;and 3) the domain name registries and registrars. The owners are unableto keep track of all the trademarks (and their associated classes) thatthey might be infringing upon. For example, the use of automated parkingservices for domain names that are currently not in active use may causethe display of infringing advertisements. A domain name in active usewith web content may also inadvertently infringe upon the rights of atrademark owner. The infringement of trademark(s) by a domain name ownercould result in legal action (UDRP arbitration, ACPA lawsuit, etc.)taken against the domain name owner, which could lead to the loss of thedomain name and even becoming liable for monetary damages that areawarded to the trademark owner. This problem is compounded by the factthat the number of trademarks grows continually—it is hard to keep trackof new trademarks and ensure compliance of all owned domain names.

Owners of trademarks are unable to track which of the domain names maybe infringing on their trademark(s). New domain names are constantlybeing registered, transferred, renewed, and deleted. Registrars may facedevastating consequences (in the form of monetary damages being awardedagainst them) from ACPA and other lawsuits that allege their having acontributory role in any infringement of trademarks by allowing thosepotentially infringing domain names to be registered.

Examples of social networking sites 120 include, but are not limited to,Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, and Friendster. Users of these sites havethe ability to create individual ‘profile pages’. Users often have theability to 1) for personal profile pages, specify their own name (whichshould be a real name) that is displayed on the profile page, 2) forgroup/corporate profile pages, specify their group name that appears onthe profile page, and 3) specify a username that is displayed as part ofthe web address for their personal or group profile page. In the examplementioned in the preface, Mark Zuckerberg, who is an instance of aFacebook social networking user, may register ‘facebook.com/zuck’, wherethe ‘zuck’ component of the web address was any string of text selectedby the end user. The operators of social networking sites 120 face therisk of being entangled in legal action should users register,inadvertently or otherwise, usernames that infringe on trademarks, withthese usernames being displayed on personal or group profile pages, orweb addresses leading to those profile pages. As such, social networkingsites can submit identification strings to notification system 160.

Regular e-mail addresses consist of two components: the username (alsoknown as the local-part), and the domain name. In the examplefool@bard.com, the part ‘fool’ before the @ is the username, while thepart ‘bard.com’ is the domain name. Owners of domain names may createany number of e-mail addresses by creating usernames that are a subsetof the domain name. For example, the owner of the domain name ‘bard.com’can create the e-mail usernames ‘fool1’, ‘fool2’, and ‘fool3’, resultingin the e-mail addresses fool1 @bard.com, fool2@bard.com, andfool3@bard.com.

With a 64-character long limit for the username/local-part of an e-mailaddress, and that subdomain names can also be used in the creation ofe-mail addresses (e.g., fool@bom.bard.com for the subdomainbom.bard.com), the issue of potential misuse or trademark infringementcan be a major concern for domain name owners. This is especially so foroperators of free e-mail services such as aol.com, comcast.net,gmail.com and hotmail.com (e.g., someone may set upmicrosoftinc@gmail.com, which would be infringing on a trademark,‘Microsoft’), and for operators of free web and e-mail hosting servicesthat allow for subdomains (e.g., if bard.com were to offer free web ande-mail hosting services, someone may set up bom.bard.com, which mayconflict with a hypothetical trademark, ‘bombard’). These e-mails couldinfringe trademarks or be used for phishing. As such, e-mail serviceproviders 130 may use notification system 160 check for possible issues.

Other examples of service providers 140 include instant messaging (IM)services that allow for the creation of custom usernames or ‘handles’which are the primary means by which an individual may be identified onthese IM services. Still yet, online advertising including domainparking and domain name redirection can be problems.

Written text can also be submitted to notification system 160. Writtentext can take the form of a webpages with written content, blog posts,social networking status updates or notes, press releases, newspaperarticles, books, novels, magazines, newspaper articled, advertisements,journals, directories, product manuals, products and packaging, researchpapers, textbooks, essays, e-books, audiobooks, movie scripts,television broadcast scripts or transcripts, song lyrics, talking books,text in Braille code, and more. As can be seen, these can take a printedform, a digital/electronic form, or other forms. The purpose may beacademic, scientific, recreational, social, entertainment, or more.

The author of the text, or the owner/management of the medium on whichthe text is published, may wish to avoid use of any trademark or ensurethat any mentioned trademark is fully attributed to the rightful ownerby means of annotating next to the text mark a™ (for a trade mark), a(for a service mark), or a® (for a registered trade mark), or by adisclaimer. Examples of marks that may be present include Xerox® (aregistered trademark for photocopiers), Kleenex® (a registered trademarkfor paper products), and Kiwi® (a registered trademark for shoe polish).

FIG. 2 shows a block diagram with exemplary components of an informingengine in accordance with one or more embodiments of the presentinvention. According to the embodiments shown in FIG. 2, thenotification system 160 can include memory 210, one or more processors220, GUI generation module 230, communications module 250, parsingmodule 250, searching module 260, verification module 270, notificationmodule 280, and submission module 290. Other embodiments of the presentinvention may include some, all, or none of these modules and componentsalong with other modules, engines, interfaces, applications, and/orcomponents. Still yet, some embodiments may incorporate two or more ofthese elements into a single module and/or associate a portion of thefunctionality of one or more of these elements with a different element.For example, in one embodiment, parsing module 250 and searching module260 can be combined into a single module.

Memory 210 can be any device, mechanism, or populated data structureused for storing information. In accordance with some embodiments of thepresent invention, memory 210 can encompass any type of, but is notlimited to, volatile memory, nonvolatile memory and dynamic memory. Forexample, memory 210 can be random access memory, memory storage devices,optical memory devices, media magnetic media, floppy disks, magnetictapes, hard drives, SIMMs, SDRAM, DIMMs, RDRAM, DDR RAM, SODIMMS,erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasableprogrammable read-only memories (EEPROMs), compact disks, DVDs, and/orthe like. In accordance with some embodiments, memory 210 may includeone or more disk drives, flash drives, one or more databases, one ormore tables, one or more files, local cache memories, processor cachememories, relational databases, flat databases, and/or the like. Inaddition, those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate manyadditional devices and techniques for storing information which can beused as memory 210.

Memory 210 may be used to store instructions for running one or moremodules, engines, interfaces, and/or applications on processor(s) 220.For example, memory 210 could be used in one or more embodiments tohouse all or some of the instructions needed to execute thefunctionality of GUI generation module 230, communications module 250,parsing module 250, searching module 260, verification module 270,notification module 280, and/or submission module 290.

GUI generation module 230 may be used to generate one or more userinterface screens. For example, the GUI generation module 230 can beused to generate a user interface screen for receiving the providedinput or identification string. As another example, GUI generationmodule 230 can generate a user interface screen to display thenotification to a recipient and/or receive a verification from the userthat the user has reviewed the notification

In some embodiments, communications module 250 may receive a request toperform a trademark search for a provided input. Communications module250 can translate all or part of the request into a format required byone or more other module. For example, if the request is encryptedcommunications module 250 can decrypt the request.

In some embodiments the provided input may result from anInternationalized Domain Name (e.g., Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and otherlanguages that do not strictly stick to an ASCII character set can beused). This applies to two areas: the top level domains (e.g., ChinaccTLD domain names ending in a localized script instead of .cn) and theSLD (e.g., the ‘myowndomain’ part of the domain name ‘myowndomain.com’).This introduces more possible SLDs, which increases chances ofinfringement of non-ASCII trademarks by domain names. Some embodimentsof communications module 250 can handle domain names that are non-ASCIItranslations of ASCII trademarks. Phonetical similarity may be weighedin some embodiments of notification system 160 when considering whethera domain name that is being registered is potentially infringing onnative-script trademarks from around the world.

Parsing module 250 can be used to parse the provided input into phrasesfor searching. In some embodiments, parsing module 250 generates phrasesfrom each domain level for searching. For example, an individual orentity may set up a subdomain as a subsidiary component of a domain namethat is owned by that individual or entity. The individual or entityowns the domain name ‘myowndomain.com’, and may freely set up‘tripadvisor.myowndomain.com’, where ‘tripadvisor’ is the subdomaincomponent of the domain name, and in this case, ‘tripadvisor’ is aregistered trademark.

Parsing module 250 also generates phrases by removing ‘.’s in the domainname. For example, there has been increased use of domain hacks such as‘del.icio.us’ (where .us is the TLD, and ‘del’ and ‘icio’ aresubdomains, and ‘icio.us’ is the registered domain name). These domainhacks, when concatenated by removing the ‘.’s that form the entire chain(of subdomains, the SLD, and the TLD), form words that make some sense.In the case of ‘del.icio.us’, a popular social bookmarking website, theentire address can be concatenated into ‘delicious’, an easy-to-rememberEnglish word. It is possible for domain name owners to create subdomainsunder their domain names, and create a domain hack that may not beobvious from just the domain name (i.e. the SLD+TLD, e.g., ‘nyti.ms’ runby the New York Times). In certain cases, just the domain name itselfcan be a domain hack (i.e. the SLD+TLD, e.g., ‘sen.se’—concatenated intothe word ‘sense’). Trademark owners may take action because, inter alia,domain hacks can be used for nefarious purposes such as phishingwebsites and fake, deceptive e-mail addresses. Trademark owners may takeaction simply because of the need to protect their brand equity. As aresult, various embodiments of notification system 160 perform phoneticsearches.

Searching module 260 receives the phrases from the parsing module andsearches one or more databases for trademarks related to the phrases.The searching can include searches the databases for exact matches,phonetic matches, and natural language matches.

In some embodiments, verification module 270 can be used to verify thatthe recipient of the results of the search/request/check has received,understood, accepted, or acknowledged the results. This verification maytake place via a web button generated by GUI generation module 230 (ifresults are displayed on a web page), via a telefax transmission (signand fax back for manual or automated review and acceptance), viaresponses to telephone voice prompts (Third Party Verification viatransfer or 3-way call; or simply an audio recording of vocalresponses), express or regular mail (sign document that bears theresults and return to system operator via mail), via deliveryconfirmation (similar to legal service of documents), or a combinationof any of these with any original method of delivering the request foracknowledgment (e.g., print out a webpage or e-mail attachment, sign,then return via scan, telefax, or postal mail).

Upon confirming this verification (of receipt, understanding, acceptanceor acknowledgement), the original requester of the search/request/checkor the recipient of the result may want to make the confirmation ofverification of receipt, understanding, acceptance or acknowledgementavailable to a third party, such as a trademark owner. The originalrequester of the search/request/check or the recipient of the result mayoptionally make the fact that the search has taken place available to athird party. This notification of a third party may take placeimmediately and automatically, or manually/optionally.Immediately/automatically—for example, immediate notification may beuseful for trademark owners (a third party) who may want to aggregatestatistics about where their trademarks are being used.Manually/optionally—delayed and optional notification of a third partymay be useful where a recipient or requester wants to show that adequatedue diligence had been performed prior to the use of a certain keyword.

In some embodiments, verification module 270 generates a digital stampgenerated from (i) the time of the search/request/check, and (ii) theresults of the search/request/check, accompanies the notification toprove that the results were truly valid at the time of the search. Thenotification/information may optionally include the fact that therecipient had confirmed receipt of the results of thesearch/request/check.

Notification module 280 can be used to generate and track thenotifications. In some embodiments, notification module 280 receives thetrademarks related to the phrases and generates the notification. Thenotification can be delivered to a third party and/or the originalrequestor.

The notification of a third party could be useful in an example of adomain name owner, who may own a domain name. The domain name owner isunder legal pressure to transfer it to a trademark owner due toallegations that the domain name was infringing on a registeredtrademark. However, the results received by the domain name owner maynot have included the trademark in question (for example, the trademarkmay have become public knowledge shortly after the domain name wasregistered), and a notification may be made to the third party (in thiscase, a trademark owner) that reasonable effort had already been made todetermine that the domain name registration would not be infringing.

The notification of a third party could also be useful in an example ofa domain name registrar, which may receive tens of thousands ofregistrations or renewals per year. If a domain name is regarded aspossibly infringing on a trademark, the trademark owner may attempt totake legal action against the registrar as well. The registrar cannotify the trademark owner with the results of the search/request/checkto demonstrate that it had already made a good faith effort (as therequester) in providing notice to the domain name registrant (as therecipient of results) before the registration of the domain name hadtaken place, and that the registrant was fully responsible for thedomain name. The notification of a third party could also be useful inthe following example: Upon the registration of a domain name, aregistrar (requester) may chose to automatically provide trademarkowners (a third party) with a notice that the registrant had registereda name and was aware of similar trademarks, in exchange for immunityagainst claims of trademark infringement.

In accordance with some embodiments, this notification/information maybe made available to the trademark owner or any other third party (e.g.,a court) through a web- or software-based user interface. The trademarkowner or other third party may alternatively be notified by a multitudeof other means: a webpage, an table within a webpage, an overlay on awebpage, a website pop-up, an e-mail message, an e-mail message with alink to a webpage (essentially, anything that results in the resultsbeing displayed on a visual display unit or VDU), a telefaxtransmission, a telegraphic transmission, a telephone call, express mailservices (e.g., UPS, FedEx, DHL), regular mail services (e.g., via USPSmail), via hand delivery, and/or other information transmission methods.The original requester may require the third party abide by a legalagreement, e.g., indemnify the requester or the recipient of resultsfrom legal action, or may bind the third party to a non-disclosureagreement.

In some embodiments, the output of search/request/check is possibly alist, which can take the form of a table with these possible columns:the relevant trademark detected, % degree of relevance and/or the %degree of similarity, date(s), status, classes, serialnumber/identifiers, image(s), description(s), jurisdiction(s), ownerdata, and other identifying and/or classifying information such as pastlawsuits/disputes over the use of that keyword. Other forms of dataoutput include a digital or printable report, a database, a webpage withlinks, an e-mail message, an audio message, and more. Notificationmodule 280 can determine a degree of relevance for each trademark andpossibly remove any below a certain threshold. The degree of relevance(which can take the form of a weight, ranking, rating, score, orpercentage) is calculated from one or a combination of several factors,including but not limited to the following:

-   -   (i) Using phonetic and natural language processing techniques,        the keyword used for the search/request/check can be compared to        all similar trademarks and a similarity score assigned to each        individual match.    -   (ii) By automatic detection (e.g., contextual analysis of        i—surrounding text on a webpage or newspaper article, or ii—a        description provided by the enquirer) or manual input (e.g.,        typed in by the enquirer or the completion of a questionnaire)        of the likely classes in which the enquirer (e.g., the domain        name registrant, or potential trademark registrant) is likely to        or is already using the keyword, followed by a comparison of        those classes with the classes of trademarks with similar        keywords. A higher number of matching classes indicates a        greater degree of relevance.    -   (iii) Status—a live or pending trademark is more relevant than a        dead, expired, or abandoned trademark.    -   (iv) Filing, First Use, and/or Registration Date—an earlier        trademark is possibly, in certain cases, more important than a        newer trademark. User or operator of system may specify what        weights are applied to each category of dates.    -   (v) Description—a higher number of keyword matches between the        description of the trademark and the context of use of the        keyword that is being enquired (e.g., text on a webpage, text        surrounding the keyword being used) implies a higher degree of        relevance.    -   (vi) Jurisdiction—a result from the search/request/check is        deemed more relevant if it falls into the trademark jurisdiction        where the recipient of the result is planning to use the        keyword. In the specific case of domain names, this may depend        on the TLD extension—a ccTLD owner, for example, would need to        be especially notified of similar trademarks in the jurisdiction        of the country that is represented by said ccTLD.    -   (vii) Involvement of trademark owner—if trademark owner has        elected to highlight the owned trademark in results of each        enquiry, then trademark is possibly more relevant due to the        vigilant state of the trademark owner.    -   (viii) Additionally, if there has been dispute(s) over the        trademark (e.g., at the USPTO's Trademark Trial and Appeal        Board), or if there has been enforcement activity over the        trademark (e.g., legal cases), then the trademark is likely to        be more relevant.    -   (ix) The degree of ‘noise’ surrounding a trademark needs to be        calculated to produce the degree of relevance of a particular        result. A greater deal of mentions of a particular trademark in        the mass media, on the Internet (e.g., number of search        results), the greater the relevance.    -   (x) Top brands—a custom list of top brands for each jurisdiction        can be custom-curated and additional relevance assigned to those        top brands when the degree of relevance is being calculated.    -   (xi) Relative relevance—to achieve a rank, the results of an        enquiry may have to be compared with each other to determine the        absolute rank/order of each trademark in the results.    -   (xii) Recurring result—whether this search/request/check has        been performed before for this particular recipient, and a        specific result it has been ‘marked as read’ or ‘regarded as        irrelevant’, could potentially change or decrease the degree of        relevance.

In some embodiments, notification module 280 will sort the trademarks bythe degree of relevance when first presented to the recipient of theresults. The recipient may then choose to sort the results by othermetrics e.g., filing date.

Submission module 290 can be configured to receive submissions fromtrademark owners with information regarding one or more trademarks. Theinformation can be stored in self-reported trademark database 180. Insome embodiments, submission module 290 can use GUI generation module tocreate a submission interface that allows owners to submit theinformation.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations for performinga trademark search in accordance with some embodiments of the presentinvention. In accordance with some embodiments, one or more of theoperation illustrated in FIG. 3 can be performed by communicationsmodule 240, parsing module 250, searching module 260, notificationmodule 280, and/or other system components or modules. As illustrated inFIG. 3, an input (e.g., domain name, e-mail address, or otheridentification string) is received from a requester during receivingoperation 310. The requester can be an individual, an organization, or aservice provider (e.g., domain name registrar 110, social networkingsite 120, e-mail service provider 130, etc.)

Once the input is received, processing operation 320 processes theinput. In some embodiments, when the input is a SLD, the processing caninclude parsing out the keyword ‘domain’ in ‘domain.com’, if keyword hadnot already been parsed out before search/request/check commences. Thesestrings can be used during searching operation 330 where the string iscompared against database of all trademarks to detect trademarks thatare similar. When searching operation detects trademarks that aresimilar (e.g., via a comparison of (i) description/statement of intendeduse of domain name, and/or (ii) web content of domain name includingmultilevel content, with the descriptions/classes of all trademarks thatwere detected as similar to determine the degree of similarity withgreater accuracy. *‘multilevel content’ refers to ‘deep crawling’ of agiven domain name), notification operation 340 can generate anotification of the results.

If the input is in a foreign, native script, then comparison (of keywordand database of known trademarks) via transliteration may be utilizedduring processing operation 320. Conversion of encoding may also benecessary. Additional methods include parsing or comparing forsimilarity in appearance and pronunciation (e.g., usage of similarideograms, radicals, and morphemes). As the same written form may bepronounced differently in different regions, the region in which thekeyword will be used is an important factor in helping to source forsimilar trademarks.

Processing operation 320 can be utilize a domain hack detectionalgorithm in some embodiments. A domain hack takes the form of‘part1.part2.part3’, and as with any domain name, has to have at leasttwo parts. As a result, domain hack detection algorithm concatenates thekeyword inputs. For example, in the case of ‘part1.part2.part3’,concatenating combinations of levels, divided by a . (full stop/period),creates a number of inputs: ‘part1part2’, ‘part2part3’, and‘part1part2part3’. For example, del.icio.us yields ‘delico’, ‘icious’,and ‘delicious’. Each of these is used as input for multiplesearch/request/checks. Procession operation 320 can process descriptivecontent (a statement or multilevel web content) for comparison with thedescriptions/classes of all trademarks that were detected as similar todetermine the degree of similarity with greater accuracy.

In some embodiments, the input is a user name from a social networkingwebsite or a IM user name, processing operation 320 receives input ofusername string and comparison of said string against database of alltrademarks to detect trademarks that are similar. The username is oftena public-facing identifier that may be displayed and transmitted via apage or as a component of a web address. In addition, processingoperation 320 can process an input of a string of one or multiple wordsthat could be used in profile names, group names, comments, or anywhereelse where a long string may be entered on the social networking site.Then searching operation 320 generates a comparison (i) of each word ofstring and (ii) of combination of words and phrases within string—withknown trademarks in system can then take place.

In accordance with some embodiments, when the input is an e-mailaddress, processing operation generates a username string i.e. portionbefore @ sign in e-mail address (e.g., ‘username’ part ofusername@domain.com). Comparison of that string against database of alltrademarks to detect trademarks that are similar occurs with searchingoperation 330.

In some embodiments, the input can be a string of one or multiple wordsobtained from written text, advertising text, or header/headline. Then,searching operation 330 can generate a comparison (i) of each word ofstring and (ii) of combination of words and phrases within string—withknown trademarks in system can then take place.

In some embodiments, the input is a list of domain names, e-mailaddresses, user names, etc. When multiple inputs are received in abatch, processing operation 320 first determines the type of input andprocesses each item in accordance with the input type. The searchingoperation 330 generates a search of each entry.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating exemplary operations for generatinga notification in accordance with various embodiments of the presentinvention. In accordance with some embodiments, one or more of theoperation illustrated in FIG. 4 can be performed by notification module280 and/or other system components or modules. As illustrated in FIG. 4,receiving operation receives a list of trademarks from a search.Generation operation generates a relevance score for each of thetrademarks in the list. The degree of relevance (which can take the formof a weight, ranking, rating, score, or percentage) is calculated fromone or a combination of several factors discussed above in conjunctionwith notification module 280. Sorting operation 430 can sort thetrademarks based on the calculated relevance. In some embodiments,sorting operation 430 may remove trademarks from the list that fallbelow a certain relevance level.

The ‘degree of relevance of result set’ can be calculated based oninformation derived from or associated with individual results withineach result set. This ‘degree of relevance of result set’ may take theform of a score/rank/percentage weight given to each result set. This‘degree of relevance of result set’ can help a person who is viewing alarge number of result sets to choose the most relevant ones to review.The requester may optionally request that the system returns the ‘degreeof relevance of result set’ to the requester. For example, a requestermay wish to allow all actions (such as username registration) toproceed, but review or block only those actions (such as usernameregistration) that, after being subject to a search/request/check,produces a result set that falls above a ‘degree of relevance resultset’ threshold.

The results can be presented to a recipient (e.g., through a GUIgenerated by GUI generation module 230). The user can request additionsorting based on one or more fields (e.g, application number, first usedate, etc). Detection operation 440 determines if the recipient hasrequested any additional sorting. If a determination is made thatadditional sorting has been requested detection operation 440 branchesto sorting operation 430 where additional sorting is performed based onthe criteria received. If a determination is made that no additionalsorting has been requested, the detection operation 440 branches togeneration operation 450 where a notification can be generated.

In some embodiments, all actions (e.g., tens of thousands of domain nameregistrations) are subject to a search/request/check process, and ascore/rank/percentage weight given to each action, so that the requestercan prioritize which sets of results to review, e.g., the top 1000 setsper day, or the top 10% of each week's search/request/check results.This allows the requester to allow all actions (e.g., domain nameregistrations), and review them at a later time. In some embodiments,the requester (e.g., a domain name registrar) may opt to perform abackground check for all actions, and allow only those whosescore/rank/percentage weights fall below a certain threshold, with theremainder requiring manual review and authorization.

Various embodiments also allow a service provider to elect to integratethe search/request/check into its Terms of Sale, Terms of Service, orsome other kind of legal agreement. It may require thesearch/request/check as a prerequisite for the sale of a good or theregistration of a term (e.g., registration of a domain name, renewal ofa domain name, transfer of a domain name, signup for an e-mail address).It may alternatively or additionally state that the registration may berevoked if the results of a search/request/check indicate issues ofconcern. The service provider, as a requester, may choose to initiatethe search/request/check only upon a party's agreement to the legalagreement. This may take the form of a web form.

FIG. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a set of exemplary operations for aservice provider to allow a registration in accordance with one or moreembodiments of the present invention. A request for a trademark analysisof a domain name, e-mail address, or other identification string isreceived during receiving operation 510. A trademark analysis isrequested during requesting operation 520.

Initiating a search/request/check during request operation 520, whetheras part of an automated process (e.g., upon a user attempting toregister a domain name, or on a regular basis such as monthly or daily)or as a result of a manual request, will result in a ‘notification’ ofresults that may be delivered to a recipient (not necessarily theoriginal requester) via a combination of one or more of the followingmethods: a webpage, an table within a webpage, an overlay on a webpage,a website pop-up, an e-mail message, an e-mail message with a link to awebpage (essentially, anything that results in the results beingdisplayed on a visual display unit or VDU), a telefax transmission, atelegraphic transmission, a telephone call, express mail services (e.g.,UPS, FedEx, DHL), regular mail services (e.g., via USPS mail), via handdelivery, and/or other information transmission methods.

The request or checks may optionally take place only once upon theoccurrence of a specific event, e.g., when someone is registering adomain name, creating a subdomain, creating domain hacks using a stringof subdomains, creating a publicly-accessible and viewable username orhandle for social networking, IM, e-mail and other services, ortransferring, selling, or auctioning any of the earlier examples ofdomain names, subdomains, usernames, or when a piece of written textneeds to be reviewed for the presence of trademarks or trademark-similarterms or phrases. Checks for any given term may alternatively take placeat modifiable or pre-defined regular intervals, where new trademarks andpreviously-detected (but since modified) trademarks are detected andreturned to the initiator of the check. Checks may also take place on anad-hoc basis, where the results are only requested when needed.

Results returned for any request can take the form of all relevanttrademarks, or can include only trademarks that are new or have changedsince the previous search/request. If determination operation 530determines that no related trademarks, or no new trademarks, have beenfound, the registration is completed during allowance operation 540. Ifdetermination operation 530 determines that related trademarks, or newtrademarks, have been found then generation operation 550 can generatean indemnification request. Once the user accepts the indemnificationrequest, the service provider will complete the registration.

In accordance with some embodiments, the agreement to indemnity may beone or many agreements. For example, in some embodiments, in or to allowregistration a confidentiality and or other legal agreement by thirdparty for benefit of requester and/or recipient if a third party (suchas a trademark owner) wants to be notified of whenever a trademarkappears in any result. Third party may confirm indemnity and/orconfidentiality for requester and/or recipient via a variety of means:via a web button (if agreement is displayed on a web page), via atelefax transmission (sign and fax back for manual or automated reviewand acceptance), via responses to telephone voice prompts (Third PartyVerification via transfer or 3-way call; or simply an audio recording ofvocal responses), express or regular mail (sign document that bears theagreement and return to system operator or any designated party viamail), any other original method of delivering the request for anagreement (e.g., print out a webpage or e-mail attachment, sign, thenreturn via scan, telefax, or postal mail), or a combination of any ofthese.

A note that an agreement (of any sort) had been endorsed and executedmay be made available to the subject of the agreement, e.g., therequester or recipient. The execution of an agreement by a third partymay be delivered as part of the results (possibly as an indicator thataccompanies each trademark result) received by recipient.

Exemplary Computer System Overview

Embodiments of the present invention include various steps andoperations, which have been described above. A variety of these stepsand operations may be performed by hardware components or may beembodied in machine-executable instructions, which may be used to causea general-purpose or special-purpose processor programmed with theinstructions to perform the steps. Alternatively, the steps may beperformed by a combination of hardware, software, and/or firmware. Assuch, FIG. 6 is an example of a computer system 600 with whichembodiments of the present invention may be utilized. According to thepresent example, the computer system includes a bus 605, at least oneprocessor 610, at least one communication port 615, a main memory 620, aremovable storage media 625, a read only memory 630, and a mass storage635.

Processor(s) 610 can be any known processor, such as, but not limitedto, an Intel® Itanium® or Itanium 2® processor(s), or AMD® Opteron® orAthlon MP® processor(s), or Motorola® lines of processors. Communicationport(s) 615 can be any of an RS-232 port for use with a modem baseddialup connection, a 10/100 Ethernet port, or a Gigabit port usingcopper or fiber. Communication port(s) 615 may be chosen depending on anetwork such a Local Area Network (LAN), Wide Area Network (WAN), or anynetwork to which the computer system 600 connects.

Main memory 620 can be Random Access Memory (RAM), or any other dynamicstorage device(s) commonly known in the art. Read only memory 630 can beany static storage device(s) such as Programmable Read Only Memory(PROM) chips for storing static information such as instructions forprocessor 610.

Mass storage 635 can be used to store information and instructions. Forexample, hard disks such as the Adaptec® family of SCSI drives, anoptical disc, an array of disks such as RAID, such as the Adaptec familyof RAID drives, or any other mass storage devices may be used.

Bus 605 communicatively couples processor(s) 610 with the other memory,storage and communication blocks. Bus 605 can be a PCI/PCI-X or SCSIbased system bus depending on the storage devices used.

Removable storage media 625 can be any kind of external hard-drives,floppy drives, IOMEGA® Zip Drives, Compact Disc—Read Only Memory(CD-ROM), Compact Disc—Re-Writable (CD-RW), Digital Video Disk—Read OnlyMemory (DVD-ROM).

The components described above are meant to exemplify some types ofpossibilities. In no way should the aforementioned examples limit thescope of the invention, as they are only exemplary embodiments.

In conclusion, the present invention provides novel systems, methods andarrangements for trademark searching and notification. While detaileddescriptions of one or more embodiments of the invention have been givenabove, various alternatives, modifications, and equivalents will beapparent to those skilled in the art without varying from the spirit ofthe invention. For example, while the embodiments described above referto particular features, the scope of this invention also includesembodiments having different combinations of features and embodimentsthat do not include all of the described features. Accordingly, thescope of the present invention is intended to embrace all suchalternatives, modifications, and variations as fall within the scope ofthe claims, together with all equivalents thereof. Therefore, the abovedescription should not be taken as limiting the scope of the invention,which is defined by the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A processor-implemented method comprising:receiving owner data for a first trademark; receiving, from an entityand by a first computer system including a processor, a request to addtrademark data for the first trademark to a database; verifying a firstpart of the trademark data; and adding, after verifying the first partof the trademark data and by a second computer system including aprocessor, a second part of the trademark data to the database.
 2. Themethod of claim 1, further comprising: verifying, prior to adding thesecond part of the trademark data to the database, the owner data forthe first trademark.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the entity is theowner of the first trademark or a designated party.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the entity submits the trademark data for the firsttrademark to the receiver of the request via at least one of a web form,e-mail, or telephone.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein a first partysubmits the trademark data for the first trademark to a repository ofsuch trademark data, wherein the entity, using the repository, submitsthe trademark data for the first trademark to the receiver of therequest to add the trademark data.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein atleast a part of the trademark data in the database is updated regularlyagainst its respective source.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein thedatabase is searched for a second trademark.
 8. The method of claim 7,wherein, when the database is searched for the second trademark, thesearch is done by a registry, wherein the registry is not the party thatadded the second part of the trademark data to the database.
 9. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the first part and the second part of thetrademark data are each all of the trademark data.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first computer system and the second computersystem are the same computer system.
 11. The method of claim 1, whereinthe owner data is part of the trademark data for the first trademark.12. The method of claim 1, wherein the trademark data includes at leastone of a trademark date, a trademark status, a trademark class, atrademark serial number/identifier, a trademark image, a trademarkdescription, a jurisdiction for a trademark, or a legal precedent suchas a past lawsuit/dispute over use of a trademark.
 13. Aprocessor-implemented method comprising: receiving, from a requester andby a computer system including a processor, a request to perform atrademark search for a provided input; searching, by the computersystem, a database for a trademark related to the provided input;determining, by the computer system, a trademark that is similar to theprovided input; and generating, by the computer system, a notificationbased at least in part on the similar trademark.
 14. The method of claim13, wherein the provided input is similar to a trademark when theprovided input is considered an identical match to the trademark. 15.The method of claim 13, wherein the provided input is similar to atrademark when the provided input is considered a typo of the trademark.16. The method of claim 13, wherein the requester is a domain nameregistrar, wherein the request was generated in response to an end-userseeking to register an internet domain, and wherein the receiver of therequest is a registry.
 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the providedinput is a domain name, an e-mail address, an instant messaging username, or an advertisement.
 18. The method of claim 13, wherein therequester is an end-user, wherein the request to perform the trademarksearch was generated by a domain name registrar, and wherein the requestfor the trademark search was generated in response to the end-uservisiting a website of the domain name registrar and typing in aninternet domain name.
 19. A processor-implemented method comprising:receiving, from a requester and by a computer system including aprocessor, a request to subscribe to an ancillary trademark-monitoringservice and an associated trademark; receiving, by the computer system,a request for an internet domain; searching, by the computer system, adatabase for the internet domain; determining, by the computer systemand in response to the subscription request, that the internet domain issimilar to the associated trademark; causing generation of a notice ofthe similar trademark; and causing the notice to be presented to therequester.
 20. The method of claim 19, wherein the internet domain issimilar to a trademark when the internet domain is considered anidentical match to the trademark.
 21. The method of claim 19, whereinthe internet domain is similar to a trademark when the internet domainis considered a typo of the trademark.